If you’re looking to express yourself through some permanent artwork etched onto your skin, allow me to suggest that you first consider how you’ll feel about the piece in ten years. How will your parents feel about it? What might your colleagues think? Will your children appreciate it? While I’m usually an advocate for not caring what others think, when it comes to preventing awful and offensive tattoos, a second opinion just might be worth getting.

One Reddit user recently invited others to describe tattoos they’ve encountered that instantly repelled them, so you can find some of their most unfortunate responses down below. Be sure to upvote the ones you can’t believe are permanently on people’s bodies, and keep reading to also find an interview with tattoo artist Xamy of Tattoos Wizard!

#1

My current boss has a tattoo in Chinese that she got when she was 18. What’s it say? “Italian”

Image credits: justcurlythoughts

#2

Anything racist/fascist – worked with a guy that had the coat of arms of battalion with a terrible reputation in my country’s previous regime. Told my colleagues and they kind of excused it. That was a massive red flag and I knew it was time to start looking elsewhere.
No matter how “nice” you are, if you have s**t like that tattooed on you, you’re a c**t.

#3

My evil a*s neighbor has two eyes tattooed on the back of his bald head. No, he doesn’t look cool. He’s a huge dbag.

Image credits: Bookeyboo369

To gain more insight on the world of unfortunate tattoos, we reached out to the experts at Tattoos Wizard, and lucky for us, tattoo artist Xamy was kind enough to answer our questions. First, we were curious how common bad tattoos are. “I think it depends on the country or city, but personally I think they are quite common,” Xamy shared. “In my country, people like minimalist style tattoos, which should be done with a fine and clean line, and most of the ones I see aren’t well done.”

“It’s also very common to see a couple’s initials, especially when they have not been in a relationship for long, and it’s quite common for clients to ask for cover ups for the same reason,” the artist added.

#4

My step brother is full on m’lady neck beard incel, or at least he was, somehow he managed to get a girlfriend, 2 weeks later he has a tattoo on his wrist, it’s a date, it’s not the date they got together, so I asked “what’s the date for?” He tells me “it’s the day I became a man” I called him a f*****g idiot, they broke up a week later and he’s since had it covered up.

Image credits: DDTKong

#5

I used to work at a pizza place when I was in high school as a 16 year old. Kind of weird to think back on it, but one of our delivery guys in his mid 40s or so told us about this crazy a*s tat he had. One day he took us out back behind the pizza shop and showed us. It was the seven dwarves from Snow White all walking into a cave, and the cave was his a**hole.

#6

Older woman had a whole back tiger tattoo. I asked her about it and she told me her and her sister were both Leo’s. She had a full back tattoo of the wrong cat.

Image credits: Bearacolypse

Thankfully, however, Xamy says she has not come across many particularly awful or offensive tattoos in her days. However, she says she’s seen plenty on the internet. As far as what can be done about those tattoos, the expert says, “Many can be restored, but those that have thickened a lot are best covered or lasered. Cover ups should be done by specialized tattoo artists.”

#7

A guy I worked with showed me his monster energy tattoo on his back and he was proud of it.

Image credits: Artistic-Shower-5931

#8

I was at a party and saw a dude with 11-11-11 on his forearm…. asked him if it was a veterans thing, like Armistice Day. Nope….11 as in the 11th letter of the alphabet, KKK, the Klan). F*****g loser…Did a tight 180° and walked away.

#9

My deceased uncle’s prison-looking tat of a nude woman with his nipple as one of her nipples. He was a classy guy like that.

Image credits: Wizendiagram

Xamy also shared a bit about what clients should consider before going through with a tattoo. “The most important thing is to be informed about the styles and techniques of tattooing, to know which is the one that the person wants and to look for a tattoo artist specialized in that technique,” she noted. “Therefore, the most important thing to take into consideration is the portfolio of the tattoo artist you choose.”

#10

My ex had a full arm sleeve of Jesus on the cross holding machine guns, surrounded by skulls.

I’m still wierded out by it.

#11

“Fight for your faith” with AR-15s in a cross shape and some bible verses one was leviticus 20-13. He was an ex marine and is currently a cop in my town. I normally don’t do politics in person, but I’ve never been more revolted in my life.

#12

I have an a*s tatt of a jack daniels whiskey bottle (i was young and dumb) and a guy left me immediately after seeing it.

Yes, it is crooked. Yes, it is s****y. The tattoo artist was also drunk.

Image credits: Difficult-Zombie-547

“Regarding ‘awful tattoos’, I think it’s up to each person to decide, as long as they know that it’s a possibility that at some point in their life they may want to cover them up,” Xamy added. “So I would suggest areas of the body where they’re not so visible.”

The artist can also bear a bit of responsibility when it comes to preventing offensive tattoos. “I personally, as a tattoo artist, would not accept to tattoo serial killers, nor dictators or Nazi symbols or similar, but it’s also up to each tattoo artist to decide,” the expert shared.

If you’d like to learn more about Xamy or check out her amazing work, be sure to visit her Instagram. And if you’re looking for a tattoo expert in your area, be sure to visit Tattoos Wizard!

#13

A motorcycle handle bar across a girls lower back.

Image credits: Buddyslime

#14

Dated a guy in high school who went into the military. A few months before I was supposed to see him again, he got MAMAS BOY (no apostrophe) tattooed on his arms…one word covering his entire bicep. kinda killed the attraction after that. also i’m gay now (unrelated to this incident)

Image credits: b00kstorebabe

#15

First time I saw that my husband’s son’s “significant other” had the words DADDY’S GIRL tattooed across her upper chest I had to walk the fuck away….Ick. Just, ick.

#16

The split legs on a dude’s armpit.

Image credits: OddSkill9557

#17

Old neighbor of mine has, on his chest, Papa Smurf shooting his load on Smurfette’s a*s. There is a phrase I never thought I’d write.

#18

I’ve been working in shops for the last twenty years. I only tattooed for two years but have been piercing all twenty. The one that’s always stuck with me was a young lady getting her boyfriend’s name tattooed across her lower back(I wasn’t the one doing the tattoo). She leaves excited but comes back a little while later fuming. Turns out the boyfriend was caught in bed with her best friend when she got home. That’s the quickest I’ve seen anyone ask for a cover-up.

#19

When I came home from work one day and my bf surprised me by getting a tatt of my name. As soon as I saw it I knew our relationship was over. We broke up a couple months later.

#20

Atheist classmate from college went and had “Hail Satan” tatted on his forehead to try and offend as many people as he could. Near Twenty years later and the guy can’t keep a job because of it. Refuses to remove or alter it in anyway.

#21

I was visiting a farm in Florida about 15 years ago in a work exchange/farm kinda thing. I was camping on the property (in the middle of nowhere, mind you) and locals would stop by to chat up the travelers, have a beer, and shoot some guns. Guy pulls up in his truck. The bed of the truck is about a foot deep with empty beer cans. He brought his shotgun and wants to shoot some clay pigeons with me. Dude takes off his shirt and he has a full-chest mural of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination at fords theater. The whole situation kinda dawned on me like oh s**t I could easily disappear out here. I packed my bags and left the state soon after

#22

“Bros before h*es” all across the chest on a guy on Tinder.

Image credits: non_brad

#23

New AP guy at work. He was really friendly and attractive. We had some good conversations. He would always find me and follow me around the first 10 or 20 minutes of his shift. Even some flirting going on. ….. until I noticed he had a Confederate flag tattoo on his upper bicep. I was completely bummed. I steered clear after that.

He ended up leaving 6 months later for another job.

#24

Confederate flags, hentai girls in suggestive poses, tramp stamps, arrows to a person’s genitals, names of people’s exes (the only exception being if the ex died during their relationship & their family/friends back that info up), etc I have tattoos & trust me, there’s some lines that shouldn’t be crossed Edit: names of people are more in the “grey” area since it’s a case by case basis & a lot of people (myself included) get tattoos in honor of deceased loved ones. My apologies!

#25

Anything poorly drawn. My ex was a hot guy. He got a wolf tattoo on his chest. Omg, it had crossed eyes and a fat weird face and for some reason pine trees embedded in the fur. Ugh. Just, whyyy

Image credits: GabriellaJeremiah

#26

A coworker who went through a bad breakup then came back to work with a tattoo of a topless woman with a noose around her neck. He was ordered to keep it covered at work. It was that offensive.

Image credits: Alltheprettydresses

#27

Can’t walk away exactly because she’s my cousin, but this one’s a classic.

She’s half black, strongly identifies as black, and feels like she’s supposed to be able to speak Spanish because she’s black. (Why she thinks that I still don’t understand.)

So to demonstrate her blackness, she got a tattoo at the base of her neck that says Atoño siete veces, levantate ocho.

… I do speak Spanish. I stared at it for a while, thinking there must be some double meaning for a word that I wasn’t getting. I didn’t understand what was wrong until she told me what she thought it said. Fall down seven times, get up eight. Cute, I guess, except what it actually says is Autumn seven times, get up eight.

People, please never get a tattoo in a language you’re not fluent in. It’s not going to end well.

#28

He was proud of his Irish ancestry but didn’t realise his Irish flag was the wrong way round and was therefore actually the flag of the Ivory Coast.

#29

My husband and I took our toddler (mixed race) to a food hall. She started playing with a little girl. That was cool until we noticed her dad, who had a tattoo of a black baby in a noose. That was more than 20 years ago and I still shudder when I think of it.

#30

I was once dating this white boy with blue eyes and he had a whole Egyptian scene spanning across his chest and down to his arms. Out of curiosity one day, I asked if he really was into Egyptian culture… his response, “I took an ancestry & me test and it said I’m 1% black”

Image credits: amberrome

#31

Dual lightning bolts on side of neck.

Good ol’ SS tat. No thanks bud, not interested in palling around.

Image credits: Cyrakhis

#32

Finally, my “tinder time” pays dividends:

One night stand, mediocre date, the kind that moved to her place through happenstance/alcohol vs any real attraction. It isn’t until we’re both naked and I’m in a position to examine her lower back without interruption that I notice wall-to-wall, 90’s bubble style graffiti text reading:

“Live every week like it’s shark week”

That was something like eight years ago and I still haven’t stopped thinking about it.

#33

I have a winner! Was at a small rural dive bar in the Midwest years ago & this woman in her 40’s was chatting me up. She was friendly enough & was much more welcome company than the man 3x my age who had hit on me while I ordered a drink. After an hour or two, we started talking about our favorite bands. She, without warning, jumps off the bar stool, bends over, pulls her shirt up halfway in the back, and reveals a large tramp stamp bearing all of the signatures of the members of the boy band Hanson (you know, the guys who sang “Mmm Bop”)… she was absolutely GLOWING with pride & went on to tell me about how she saw them in concert a few years prior, paid an exorbitant amount for backstage passes, managed to get all of their signatures, went to a 24hr tattoo shop afterwards, & got them all tattooed on that night. She was in her THIRTIES when she did this btw.

I just sat there kinda shocked, finished my drink, and quickly left.

#34

His entire back had bible quotes with the word size tapering down from his shoulders to his lower back. I said I had to pee and ran out of there, with his roommate witnessing it all.

#35

My cousin has an 88 tattoo. The entire family has disowned the piece of s**t and I filled him in twice. His own parents hate him.

#36

I knew someone who had his own name tattooed on his upper arm. I don’t know what would possess someone to do that.

Image credits: ihatehicks666

#37

Jesus on the cross pose but holding the guys nipples. I just really didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say.

Image credits: MareImbria

#38

After 8 long months of insanity and incredible, INCREDIBLE sex, the word “Classy” on her a*s proved to be as much a red flag as I initially thought.

10/10 would do it again.

#39

A guy I was dating had the name of his ex above his crotch. That turned me off so much I broke off contact after I saw that.

Image credits: Wintersneeuw02

#40

Every once in a while, my boyfriend expresses disappointment that he wasn’t with a group of his friends when they all went to get Wawa tattoos. I love him dearly but… ?

I’m just glad he missed out on that particular outing

#41

We were in the talking stage – then saw a picture our mutual friend had tagged him in when they got drunk tattoos together – £5 note ON HIS PECKER. Ol’ Queen Lizzies face looked like a Tracy Beaker drawing. The picture itself was revolting. His d*ck had like. Shrivelled into his body so it was just stretched out peen-skin with a badly drawn fiver.

#42

Saw a guy with a tattoo on his leg that said “bit*hes be tripping”. I noped out of the Flea Market after that!

#43

I went on a date with a guy who waited until we were halfway through it to tell me he had 3 children and an ICP tattoo. He asked me if I wanted to go out again and I declined. He asked if it was the kids or the tattoo and I had to be honest, it was the tattoo.

Insane Clown Posse. It’s a rap group with clown paint. Their fans are juggalos and juggalettes.

#44

Went on a date with a guy and he was very eager to take off his shirt which revealed a full back piece of Satan riding a horse. It was very poorly done, and the face had a really derpy look about it. Anyway, I went home after that, I wouldn’t have been able to to look at that for anything long term. Not to mention this guy had to use a butter knife to flush his toilet so that should have been my first red flag.

#45

If scarmods/piercings are allowed… (I think they fit right in anyways so here goes).

Went to school with a kid who got a friend to cut a huge 666 on his back and returned the favor with a pentagram. Was a sort of sensational day when he stepped out of the gym dressing room without a shirt because ofcourse he was dared and ofcourse half the school saw it lol.

I sometimes wonder how the scar would look today and if he’s comfortable shirtless on a beach. I knew the dude fairly well throughout the years and i think he still doesn’t give a *** what others think of him which I’ve always respected. So if this dude “T.S” happens to read this. Well, still cool. Never had a problem personally. But that stuff was crazy lol

#46

I work at a gas station and I have a regular customer who comes in every couple days. They have a big slash tattoo across their neck with the words “death” and “mayhem” tattooed under their eyes.

#47

Exs name with capital letters in her lower back, playboy logo on stomach, and she was proud of them both, WTF

#48

I was on a speech and debate team in college.
A girl on the team began dating another team member…. We all were partying one night and they were on the outs about to break up and he tells everyone about a tattoo the girl has on her butt cheek……of her STEP-father’s name!

#49

I knew this guy who worked for Coca Cola. He got a tattoo of the Calvin and Hobbs kid peeing on a Pepsi logo. I thought long and hard about what goes through some people’s minds.

#50

There’s a guy I work with (it’s a large company, so I don’t directly work with him but I see him occasionally) that has a 3%r tattoo on his leg. I’ve also seen a couple of iron crosses. I hate that those kind of people can find employment, tbh.

#51

There’s a guy in my town with ‘F*ck Off’ tattooed on his forehead. He keeps nodding to me whenever I see him, like he knows me. I do not know him – I think I’d remember! I used to nod back (don’t know why), but now I just cross the street etc whenever I see him coming. I’m sure he’s probably harmless, but it does make you question what kind of mental state you’d have to be in to get that done. Probably not a good one, hence my evasive tactics, but I do feel a little bit guilty for judging him based on what could just have been a temporary moment of madness twenty years ago.

#52

Mines not as intense as other’s here.

This chick had a few lines of song lyircs going down her ribcage.

Got to admit she looked great topless but then she got a lot less hot so when she didn’t even remember what song was tattooed on her body.

IDK maybe I’m weird but something about that made her seem a bit ridiculous.

#53

In cheap tattoo calligraphy “this to shall pass”

#54

Dated a girl with a Dr. Seuss “oh the places you’ll go” tattoo. She got it from a guy that got out of jail that day, right after she f****d him and his homeless friend in their van. Those are places I really don’t want to go.

 

#55

Was seeing a girl who had the ubiquitous little dolphin tatt close to her navel.
As things progressed she removed her blouse while her back was to me.
Two inch high Chinese characters from shoulder blade to shoulder blade.
I was informed they read “ insatiable “.

#56

My ex husband got his companys’ repo truck tattooed on his back. Massive. Even the phone number is clearly (badly) on the side of the vehicle.

He doesn’t even drive the repo trucks. He works from home and tells the guys where to go to look for the vehicles.

#57

went on a date with a girl whose name was mercedes that had a mercedes logo tattooed on her wrist. nice girl, but i couldn’t handle that tattoo.

Image credits: iamblankenstein

#58

Three inch navy stars, one on either side of his neck. So I asked about the navy and his experience – he obviously wanted everyone to know – turns out being in the navy was his lifelong dream, but his tonsils were congenitally too large to work on a submarine so he was assigned something else. He was devastated that he didn’t get his way. Fair enough.

The most logical response, then, was to deal drugs to some other navy people and earn himself a dishonorable discharge.

#59

“I ❤️ dirty pu*sy” in giant letters across his chest.

#60

Had a coworker who wanted to get a set of tattoos, so she went to “this guy” she’d heard did good tattoos. The series of tats she got were lady bugs, representing her kids and her parents, all on various parts of her body. One was on her chest, right above the spot for a mid-low cut top. Another was on the inside of her lower arm. Not sure where the others were (I didn’t ask), but both of them were done so horribly, they looked like cancerous growths within a year. No way did they look like lady bugs, not even right after she had them done.

#61

Tribal/those clocks with lions-type tattoos, even if theyre well done. These are just red flags to me of “im gonna treat you like s**t and gaslight you about it”
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